Robert Griffin III won over Washington, D.C., a long time ago. But now he’s winning football games and raising expectations for the Redskins. The buzz around Griffin keeps getting louder, and it won’t stop because he’s too exciting, too good and too unique.

Griffin’s latest marquee performance came one day after Andrew Luck, the No. 1 pick in the draft, led the Colts to a dramatic win over the Lions. Luck and Griffin will be forever linked as the top two picks of the 2012 NFL Draft, and Griffin admits the symbolism is not lost on him. Both could improbably lead their teams to the playoffs as rookies. And although he did not watch Luck’s game on Sunday, Griffin was very aware of what Luck did Sunday.

``I try not to watch football, but my Twitter was blowing up with what happened,’ Griffin said Monday night. "I checked the game tracker and saw that they won late in the game. It’s great that all the rookie quarterbacks that came out this year are playing at an extremely high level. Whether the stats support it or not, there’s a lot of guys out there playing really, really well, doing what everybody said we couldn’t do, coming in and being successful in the league right away. I know it fuels our team. It probably fuels their teams as well.’’

Monday night was Griffin’s turn. He plays quarterback like nobody else in the NFL, and he showed that again during the Redskins’ 17-16 victory over the Giants. Griffin hurt the Giants with his arm (13 for 21, 163 yards, one TD). He hurt the Giants with his legs (five rushes, 72 yards), including a 46-yard run that he nearly broke for a TD.

The Redskins are wise to use the read option, and to allow Griffin to accentuate all of his talents. Handcuffing Griffin and making him a cookie-cutter pocket passer in a conventional offense would take away the fear factor he puts in defenses.

There was a debate earlier in the year about whether Griffin was running too much. Stop the debate. He needs to run to make the Redskins’ offense go. Just the threat of Griffin on the edge makes defenders freeze. It happened to the Giants on many occasions Monday night. Griffin has become a superb ball handler, reading the defense on the option, and either tucking the ball into a running back’s belly or keeping it himself to run or throw.

The Giants had to respect Griffin’s ability to get outside, which created more space for running back Alfred Morris, who enjoyed a huge night (22 carries, 144 yards). When the Giants got careless and converged on Morris, Griffin burned them with several big runs.

Sure, Griffin should look to get out of bounds a little more often. But the Redskins can’t take his legs away from his game. It’s too much a part of what makes him special.

The same Giants’ pass rush that sacked Aaron Rodgers of the Packers five times in Week 12 could not sack Griffin once in Week 13. That shows you how difficult it is to corral Griffin. Not only does he run by design, he runs away from trouble and sometimes creates magic.

``He’s dangerous for everybody,’’ said Giants defensive end Justin Tuck. ``It’s always going to be frustrating playing a quarterback like him. Even when you’re playing your best ball, he can outrun you to the edge. There were plays when we should have had sacks, and he outran us. There were some plays we should have tackled him, and he outran us. If he stays healthy, he’s going to be a havoc on defenses for a long time.’’

Not only does Griffin have the talent to be great, he has the attitude. When the Redskins were 3-6, he wouldn’t accept the notion that they were finished. Griffin’s maturity is well beyond his years, and it oozes out of him whenever he talks. It has made it easy for him to become a leader as a rookie, and the Redskins are feeding off him on the field and in the locker room.

``I can’t say it enough times, it’s just the mindset of the team,’’ said Griffin, when asked what has changed since the Redskins were 3-6. ``I think the guys are studying harder, making sure they’re playing harder. I see it in practice, and it makes a big difference on game day.’’

Winning wasn’t supposed to happen for Griffin this quickly, not for a Redskins team that clearly has holes. But now the Redskins are clearly caught up in Griffin fever. And, in December, it’s going to be fun to see how far this special player can lead them.